Just not feeling it, right now. Might have something to do with the that soul-destroying Engineering Risk Benefit Analysis course I’m taking – closely tied to that loathesome online stats course from last quarter. Might have something to do with the general ickyness of all the news. Over at the front, our newly liberated allies are being perfectly beastly to each other, and even a supporter of the effort finds himself wondering at times, “who are these people?” In other quarters, muffled beats of the war drum are heard yet again, calling for us to hurl ourselves once more into the breach, dear friends. And here we are stuck between poor choices on one hand, and none at all on the other. Minas Tirith vs. Mordor II.
Domestically, I find myself unable to whip up the requisite rage over the topic of Representative McKinney’s (D-Ga) assaults, physical and moral, on the person of a capitol cop. Neither do I feel stirred to lift a rehabilitative finger in the direction of Tom Delay, whose fall from his personal equivalent of grace is less a Greek tragedy than a straight-to-video B-movie. No, in a time sufficiently Orwellian that the perpetually affronted set feel free to pillory the president for telling the truth in order to offset a wicked lie, then it’s time to get the hell out of the political kiddie pool, what with all of its piss and crapulence, and head for the showers instead.
Could finish up that Rhythms blogvel, Lex, councha? Or maybe throw us a bone, toss in another serial?
I suppose I could try, gentle reader. I know just where it’s going now. The struggle, as ever, is getting it there. But my heart’s not in it, what with the tides of trauma and tears being in pretty full flood at the moment, revolving as ever around the topic of successfully raising teenagers in southern California. But, it’s not so very far we have to go now, and you’ve all been quite wonderful along the way, so bide a little further if you will. Good things come to those who wait.
So. Burdened by a Protestant work ethic (but gratefully devoid of Catholic guilt) I’ll sprinkle out these links, provided for the most part by occasional readers:
If it’s plane pr0n you’re after, then pop a merry chub at this pic sent hither by Kevin, USS Ronald Reagan at sea in a storm, like. Jason provided this link, showing an Su-30MK looking to tie the low altitude record – you can only tie the record – at an airshow somewheres. The lack of visible exhaust, not to mention the absurdly low altitude on such a big jet – only consider the amount of airframe aft of the axis of rotation – set my Photoshop antennae all a-twitter, but other samples of Su-30′s taxiing show a rather more nose down attitude, so: Who knows? If real, it brings to mind the old saw about old pilots and bold pilots, and that never the twain shall meet in one flesh.
Since I’m on about fighter jets, take a gander at this list provided by Jeff entitled, “Who’s got the coolest ride?” Well, no, that’s not really what it’s entitled, but it might as well be. There’s plenty to argue with there, red meat to the wolves and all that, but I haven’t the heart for that either right now. Talk amongst yourselves if you like.
Penultimately, I would like to thank the eleventy-five-thousand people who sent me this link showing the fruits of one man’s labor – a man with far too much time on his hands, and a rather comprehensive lego collection.
Finally, B2 passes on a joke worth sharing. I think:
Two men dressed in Pilots’ uniforms walk up the aisle of a jetliner on the ground. Both are wearing dark glasses, one is using a guide dog, and the other is tapping his way along the aisle with a cane. Nervous laughter spreads through the cabin, but the men enter the cockpit, the door closes, and the engines start up. The passengers begin glancing nervously around, searching for some sign that this is just a little practical joke. None is forthcoming.
The plane moves faster and faster down the runway, and the people sitting in the window seats realize they’re headed straight for the water at the edge of the airport territory. As it begins to look as though the plane will plow into the water, panicked screams fill the cabin. At that moment, the plane lifts moothly into the air. The passengers relax and laugh a little sheepishly and, soon, all retreat into their magazines, secure in the knowledge that the plane is in good hands.
In the cockpit, one of the blind pilots turns to the other and says, “You know, Bob, one of these days, they’re gonna scream too late and we ‘re all gonna die.”
Anyway.
accepting Catholic guilt, taking one for the team [so you don't have to] since 1956….
Press on Skipper–your teens are your biggest fans, and some day they’ll even admit it to you.
Cool pics, BTW
Wasn’t it the Reagan that threw a Bug into the drink off Brisbane not too long ago?
Oh yes, regarding the plane rankings.
Completely ignored the raft of things that make things work (is it going to fall out of the sky, do we have things to hang off it etc etc). Meanwhile he ranked a paper plane second! I mean I hope it’s good, the RAAF hopes it’s good, but it hasn’t actually flown anywhere….
Regarding the storm photo, I’ve had that in my screensaver collection for well over a year now, so don’t think it’s quite as ‘recent’ as the original poster believes. Unfortunately I can’t find the original ref, but according to my memory, it’s from the Teddy Roosevelt in the North Atlantic a year or two ago.
Cool pic tho.
Regarding the Reagan storm photo, shades of “The Final Countdown”. Deja vu all over again. Great pics and commentary thoughout as usual.
Best wishes as you rebalance. We’ll be here when you’re recharged. It’s well worth the wait.
Thanks for the pics and the chuckle.
Cheers – Brian
That is one of the most impressive Lego collections I’ve ever seen. The only thing that I think comes close is the display at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, WI. They have a replica of Paris built of of Legos.
Regarding the best fighters list:
How can the F-22 and F-35 be in that list when they haven’t seen combat? Go by kill ratio, and the Eagle, Turkey, Phantom (should be there but not) and the ‘Sader (also not there) would be on the top of that list. That list on strategy page is a pantload…
‘Sader? Oh, CRUsader… took me a minute.
I thought this would get some conversations going.
For anyone intrested here the other side of taht SU-30 photo:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1027487&size=L
Hope that guy in the back is actually a dummy.
Actually, he’s a dummy either way, in my book.
Lex: Couldn’t resist, could you?
*heehee*
Anatoly Kvochur is an old bold pilot. He will be 54 on April 16, and he still flies like that.
BTW, you’ve already linked once to another famous picture of him.
Back in 1989-1990, when Gorbachev finally decided that aircraft carriers aren’t just imperialist propaganda tools, but useful weapons, too, Kvochur was among the Russian trap landing pioneers. He was the first who did a night trap on Kuznetsov.
It’s never about the quantity of the product. I’ve just discovered your work and look forward to many hours of reading; I’ll be ready when the muse returns or the battery is recharged.
Re: Jason’s link to the other SU-30 pic (a helluva nice shot btw) – anyone else wonder why is the probe out? What, is he waving to the crowd with it?
Regarding ejection seats – the E2 doesn’t have ‘em – only fixed wing still flying off carriers that doesn’t. The bailout drill was a joke – release your chute from the seat and stumble to the door with your seat pan (holds life raft, O2 bottle, etc) banging into the back of your knees with plenty of things for the multitude of straps hanging off of you to get caught up on. Unless the plane is flying straight and level it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re riding it in. The only successful bailout (right Skip???) was in the Med after an engine fire that wouldn’t go out. Flying straight and level, the crew got out safely and the plane continued flying towards Lebanon or something. The kicker (you’ve probably seen this, Lex) is that the engine fire was content to burn in the nacelle and never made it to the wing root so the plane had to be shot down by an airwing Hornet to keep all our super hi-tech stuff on board from falling into the wrong hands.
Picked up the ejection seat topic from Tyukanov’s link to Lex’s old post about same, btw.
Sorry for the rather abrupt turn…
No worries, Brian. It’s like wardroom talk – we follow it where it takes us
And Mike – 56 is pretty old to be that bold. But not as old as it used to be
“The only successful bailout (right Skip???) was in the Med after an engine fire that wouldn?
“The only successful bailout (right Skip???) was in the Med after an engine fire that wouldn’t go out. Flying straight and level, the crew got out safely and the plane continued flying towards Lebanon or something.” (note: fire was behind the fire wall and not reachable by any extinguishers in the right nacelle)
Since the E-2 (all flavors) began flying in 1962, it is the only successful bailout by the entire crew in a handful of attempts. The tragedy is that of that crew, one had enough of ops at sea and went to fly E-2′s with the Coast Guard, only to lose his life in the CG E-2 that went in at NSRR.
And it was Syria the errant E-2 was headed towards which ratcheted-up the pucker factor slightly more…
re unmanned E-2:
I learned from an guy in the airwing at the time that the Hornet bubba vectored for the shootdown was a nugget pilot who couldn’t get a tone and was ordered to use his guns. Seeing how I can just visualize how many armchair QBs were in AirOps “assisting” the effort via radio, the poor kid probably never had much of a chance to get it right
re that list link: who is “Harold C. Hutchison” and what makes him an expert? I’ll bet he’s a modeler.
B2
“Seeing how I can just visualize how many armchair QBs were in AirOps ?
“Seeing how I can just visualize how many armchair QBs were in AirOps “assisting” the effort via radio,…”
Times like that I found it useful to employ the good ol’ “…you’re breaking up, switching secondary freq…” Of course, with 5 UHF radios (6 later) you’d better have a good story whe you got back on deck…
re that list link: who is ?
re that list link: who is “Harold C. Hutchison” and what makes him an expert? I’ll bet he’s a modeler.
I don’t know, but he’s written other things for Strategy Page, and he’s going to be at the milblog conference.
While you are reading this, the Iranian reactor produces enriched bomb-grade uranium. Terrorists can deliver that bomb to your city, and it can kill you and your children. Yet the government does nothing.
Do we demand violence? Not in any common sense. Similarly, police use force to arrest criminals in order to stop violence.
But Iran is not a criminal? Wrong. Iran has proven malicious intent. Iran, under the current regime, conducted many terrorist bombings in the West, and sponsors deadly terrorists. Iranian leaders repeatedly called for fight against the United States and annihilation of Israel.
Perhaps Iran needs nuclear weapons for self-defense? No. Iran already bullies the Middle East with its huge conventional army. No country threatens Iran.
Since the eighth-century jihad and the Ottoman army at the gates of Vienna, the West has never been exposed to such threat. Iran
While you are reading this, the Iranian reactor produces enriched bomb-grade uranium. Terrorists can deliver that bomb to your city, and it can kill you and your children. Yet the government does nothing.
Do we demand violence? Not in any common sense. Similarly, police use force to arrest criminals in order to stop violence.
But Iran is not a criminal? Wrong. Iran has proven malicious intent. Iran, under the current regime, conducted many terrorist bombings in the West, and sponsors deadly terrorists. Iranian leaders repeatedly called for fight against the United States and annihilation of Israel.
Perhaps Iran needs nuclear weapons for self-defense? No. Iran already bullies the Middle East with its huge conventional army. No country threatens Iran.
Since the eighth-century jihad and the Ottoman army at the gates of Vienna, the West has never been exposed to such threat. Iran
WTF!
Just what was THAT all about? A 2006 topic about an Iranian nuke? Better call the “24″ Guys!
VX, I eased my spam filter settings at the request of certain members who were over-moderated. The results are what you see (saw) here.
Lex,
Sigh–I guess this means no Aristotelian/Goldielocks “Golden Mean” in the life of the blogmaster Grandmaster then, eh? Old Randy Newman (and ex-Louisianian) in his theme song for “Monk” is right: “It’s a Jungle out there!”
And just who might those foul-mouthed, evil thinking, walled eyed ” certain member”, pecker-heads be ? …names please! Best
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